Panel formed to decide compensation for kin of victims in pothole deaths

Acting on the court’s directive, the government has appointed a three-member panel headed by the Additional Chief Secretary of the PWD, with the Secretary (Roads) and the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority as members.

The committee will examine each accident case and decide the compensation to be paid. The committee has been asked to hold its first meeting within a week of receiving any accident information and to continue meeting at least once every fifteen days, with a higher frequency expected during the monsoon when road conditions typically worsen.

To ensure that no case is overlooked, police stations have been instructed to report such accidents to the committee within 48 hours.

PWD offices across the state must promptly forward claims filed by citizens and also send a copy to the local District Legal Services Authority.

The committee has been allowed to act not just on formal applications but also on incidents reported through newspapers or other reliable sources.

The government has also clarified how financial responsibility will be fixed. If an accident occurs on a stretch of road that is under a contractor’s ongoing work or still within the defect-liability period, the compensation will be recovered from that contractor’s security deposit.

In other cases, the PWD will initially release the amount and later recover it from officials, engineers or contractors who are found responsible after an inquiry.

The resolution states that contractors and officials who are found to have carried out substandard work may face penalties, blacklisting or even criminal proceedings.

The order applies only to roads maintained by the PWD, but the state has asked its regional and divisional offices to publicise the new rules widely in Marathi, Hindi and English so that citizens are aware of the process. The resolution has been uploaded on the government’s website and carries a digital signature, marking the formal enforcement of the High Court’s direction.